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53 days in the shop in 14 months! Help!

I have a 2004 SRX purchased by me 9/06 certified with an extended warranty covering it through 2009.In the time I have had the car it has been nothing but problems, spending 53 days at the dealer for service, and counting- I've not had the car now since mid- December.The current problem is that the engine light goes on, and then the car will only operate in reverse or 4th gear. They are now on the 5th attempt to fix it.

My question to all is this.. If they are finally able to fix this current problem should I quickly trade it in on some other vehicle, or should I bite the bullet and make them keep fixing each problem for the next 2 years until the warranty expires? Given my experience with the car, I will go broke if I keep it beyond the warranty!

In 2 years the car will be worth even less as a trade in, yet I did pay to have a car with the extended warranty and I hate to not take advantage of it, though at this point I am insuring a car I can't drive.

A real mess, and I don't know what to do with it once they fix this current issue, though I am thinking get rid of it ASAP once it is again running. I can't even allow myself to go down the what if they can't ever fix it road, despite at this point that being a real concern as well.

Any thoughts/ideas etc. would be very appriceated by this beside herself SRX owner.Thanks.

I think that this is clearly a vehicle that is a "lemon" under the lemon law. I would look into the lemon law for your State and see if that would make sense. It does seem like they should get everything fixed at some point, but the 2004's were the first production models.

Thanks for the post, but I have talked to a lawyer, and the age of the car makes it a breach of implied warranty case, which will only at best bring 10 - 30% of the cars current value. Barely a drop in the bucket.

OK, since you have consulted a lawyer, I would proceed with his advice. I assume, from your first post, that the problems have been different. Does the extended warranty give you a vehicle to drive when yours is in the shop for more than a day? If so, then you really won't be without a vehicle to drive if the SRX does spend another month or two in the shop before the warranty expires. While this will be aggravating, it might be less costly to drive it until the warranty is nearly gone before trading it in.

Yes, I do get a loaner each time, which is what I've been driving the last 5 weeks. I have 2 more years on the warranty, it expires 1/31/2010..

The saga continues... today I was at the dealer and they have rebuilt the entire harness assembly, and will begin test driving it to see if it is fixed- as has been the case 4x before.Anyway, they "offered" to put me in a 2005, with a few more options and about 5,000 fewer miles for another 10k. I told them no thanks.I guess your point about sticking it out through the warranty, and then getting rid of it, makes the most sense from a financial point of view.

So the problem is the same thing over and over. That does not seem good for the longer run. Are they getting any help from Cadillac's headquarters? Have they replaced the main computer? I know that Car & Driver had a recurrent problem with their long term test SRX in 2004 that was fixed when the computer was finally replaced.

Is the dealer willing to stand behind the 2005 guaranteeing no similar problems?

No, they haven't replaced the main computer, but I will certainly talk to them about it.

As of this minute, the car is here in my garage, having been picked up from the dealer today. They aren't saying it is fixed, but think it is, and want me to road test it for a few days and see what happens. Doesn't make me too comfortable to go too far from home!

As far as the 2005, there would be no warranty/promise on that vehicle other than the usual pre-owned warranty, which since I have the extended warranty on my 2004, there would only be a 2 month difference with the 2005-not much time for an extra 10k!

The long term test report that was in Car & Driver was the November 2005 issue, which you may be able to find at a public library. Their story is as follows:

Soon after they got their 2004 SRX, staff members took it on a trip. After stopping at a rest stop the SRX started up but then it stalled as they were exiting the parking lot. OnStar help suggested letting it rest for a short time, which did not work, but they disconnect the battery and reconnected it which fixed it for the moment. The SRX continued to die and was left at a nearby Cadillac dealer, who, after a week, could not find anything wrong. C&D picked it up to return it home, but it failed again enroute and was left at another Cadillac dealer, who, after 10 days of working on it, found the engine control module was defective.

I am not suggesting that this would explain your problems, but your dealer seems to be unsure of what they are doing, or at least this is what I read between the lines of your posts.

Unless your dealer/salesperson wants to make a guarantee that the 2005 will be mostly troublefree, it is not worth the risk. The guarantee that I would want is that if it proves to be troublesome they would return all of the money that you put into it. They should be able to fix the 2004 though, the question is what is the actual problem.

I am sorry to tell you that cadillac did nothing. I had to get a lawyer, and did then see a small cash settlement, which at this point is better than nothing.So far the good news is that the car hasn't been back in for service in 2 months.I wish you luck...